Feb 1 & 2 Greater Vancouver Workshop – Lines on the Body

On Sunday, Master Chen demonstrated how to set up multiple lines on an opponent’s body when pushing hands. The goal was to set up enough lines that the opponent finally felt like they had to jump out to escape, or they were bounced, or squeezed out.

Each line is created by either a stretch or a compression. The first requirement for this to work is that the first line cannot push the opponent over the edge (demarcation line). They cannot feel threatened. This is what has been referred to as “Don’t push!”

The second line cannot be in the same dimension, i.e. it cannot be parallel to the first line. When the second line is applied, the first line must be maintained. It cannot collapse. The same process had to extended when the third line was applied (it had to be in a third dimension and the first two had to be held). This was of moving has been called “addition” in the Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method system.

As we worked in pairs, we noticed by the time the third line was applied to us, we were trapped on an edge of being on and off balance (It is the “cliff”). At this point, all it took was a small added force in a fourth dimension to be squeezed out. This is the ability called “Four ounces overcoming ten thousand pounds.

There was no need to push the opponent to get them to bounce out when these Taiji lines were used correctly. Master Chen explained that this is what is meant when it is said that there are no pushes in Taiji.